American Masters - Airing times and Episode listing

Season 1

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s01e01	Private Conversations	Tue, 24 Jun 1986
s01e02	Philip Johnson: a Self-Portrait	Tue, 1 Jul 1986
s01e03	Katherine Anne Porter: the Eye of Memory	Tue, 8 Jul 1986
s01e04	Unknown Chaplin (1)	Tue, 15 Jul 1986
s01e05	Unknown Chaplin (2)	Tue, 22 Jul 1986
s01e06	Unknown Chaplin (3)	Tue, 29 Jul 1986
s01e07	Billie Holliday: the Long Night of Lady Day	Tue, 5 Aug 1986
s01e08	James Levine: a Life in Music	Tue, 12 Aug 1986
s01e09	Aaron Copland: a Self-Portrait	Tue, 19 Aug 1986
s01e10	Thomas Eakins: a Motion Portrait	Tue, 26 Aug 1986
s01e11	Georgia O'Keefe	Tue, 2 Sep 1986
s01e12	Eugene O'Neill: Glory of Ghosts	Tue, 9 Sep 1986

Season 2

▲▼ (10 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s02e01	Isaac in America	Tue, 7 Jul 1987
s02e02	Directed by William Wyler	Tue, 14 Jul 1987
s02e03	Rubinstein Remembered	Tue, 21 Jul 1987
s02e04	Nik and Murray	Tue, 28 Jul 1987
s02e05	George Gershwin Remembered	Tue, 25 Aug 1987
s02e06	Maurice Sendak	Tue, 1 Sep 1987
s02e07	The Negro Ensemble Company	Tue, 15 Sep 1987
s02e08	Unanswered Prayers: the Life and Times of Truman Capote	Tue, 22 Sep 1987
s02e09	The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table	Tue, 29 Sep 1987
s02e10	Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow	Thu, 19 Nov 1987

Season 3

▲▼ (8 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s03e01	Lillian Gish: the Actor's Life for Me	Tue, 12 Jul 1988
s03e02	A Duke Named Ellington	Tue, 19 Jul 1988
s03e03	Andre Keretz of the Cities	Tue, 9 Aug 1988
s03e04	Aretha Franklin: the Queen of Soul	Tue, 23 Aug 1988
s03e05	Rivera in America	Tue, 30 Aug 1988
s03e06	Saint-Gaudens: Masque of the Golden Bowl	Tue, 6 Sep 1988
s03e07	Neil Simon: Not Just for Laughs	Thu, 9 Mar 1989
s03e08	Broadway's Dreamers: the Legacy of Group Theater	Tue, 27 Jun 1989

Season 4

▲▼ (10 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s04e01	Harold Clurman: a Life of Theater	Tue, 4 Jul 1989
s04e02	Stella Adler: Awake and Dream	Tue, 11 Jul 1989
s04e03	Satchmo: the Life of Louis Armstrong	Tue, 1 Aug 1989
s04e04	James Baldwin: the Price of the Ticket	Tue, 15 Aug 1989
s04e05	Celebrating Bird: the Triumph of Charlie Parker	Fri, 18 Aug 1989
s04e06	Jasper Johns: Ideas in Paint	Tue, 12 Sep 1989
s04e07	Mort Sahl: the Loyal Opposition	Tue, 19 Sep 1989
s04e08	W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult	Tue, 26 Sep 1989
s04e09	Harold Lloyd: the Third Genius	Thu, 16 Nov 1989
s04e10	Milos Forman: Portrait	Thu, 21 Dec 1989

Season 5

▲▼ (8 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s05e01	Preston Sturges: the Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer	Tue, 3 Jul 1990
s05e02	John Cassavetes	Tue, 10 Jul 1990
s05e03	Martin Scorsese Directs	Tue, 17 Jul 1990
s05e04	You're the Tops: the Cole Porter Story	Tue, 24 Jul 1990
s05e05	Edward R. Murrow: This Reporter	Tue, 31 Jul 1990
s05e06	John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen	Tue, 21 Aug 1990
s05e07	Sanford Meisner: the Theater's Best Kept Secret	Tue, 28 Aug 1990
s05e08	John Cage: I Have Nothing to Say and I'm Saying It	Tue, 18 Sep 1990

Season 6

▲▼ (7 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s06e01	Helen Hayes: First Lady of the American Theater	Tue, 2 Jul 1991
s06e02	Miracle on 44th Street: Actor's Studio	Tue, 9 Jul 1991
s06e03	Albert Einstein: How I See the World	Tue, 23 Jul 1991
s06e04	Sarah Vaughan: the Divine One	Tue, 30 Jul 1991
s06e05	Frederic Remington: the Truth of Other Days	Tue, 6 Aug 1991
s06e06	Menuhin: a Family Portrait	Tue, 13 Aug 1991
s06e07	Robert Motherwell and the New York School	Tue, 27 Aug 1991

Season 7

▲▼ (5 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s07e01	Ray Charles: the Genius of Soul	Sat, 4 Jan 1992
s07e02	Paul Simon: Born at the Right Time	Sun, 15 Mar 1992
s07e03	George Lucas: Heroes, Myths, and Magic	Wed, 18 Mar 1992
s07e04	D. W. Griffith: Father of Film	Wed, 25 Mar 1992
s07e05	Waldo Salt: a Screenwriter's Journey	Sat, 2 May 1992

Season 8

▲▼ (6 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s08e01	Benny Goodman: Adventures in the Kingdom of Swing	Thu, 9 Dec 1993
s08e02	Martha Graham: the Dancer Revealed	Sat, 14 May 1994
s08e03	Rediscovering Will Rogers	Thu, 1 Dec 1994
s08e04	Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage	Tue, 20 Dec 1994
s08e05	Placido Domingo: a Musical Life	Thu, 16 Feb 1995
s08e06	Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul	Thu, 23 Mar 1995

Season 9

▲▼ (5 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s09e01	Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval	Thu, 30 Nov 1995
s09e02	William Styron: the Way of the Writer	Tue, 23 Jan 1996
s09e03	Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light	Thu, 25 Jan 1996
s09e04	Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud	Thu, 11 Apr 1996
s09e05	Nichols and May: Take Two	Thu, 18 Apr 1996

Season 10

▲▼ (5 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s10e01	Lena Horne: In Her Own Voice	Tue, 26 Nov 1996
s10e02	Danny Kaye: a Legacy of Laughter	Wed, 11 Dec 1996
s10e03	Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant Garde	Thu, 10 Apr 1997
s10e04	Jack Paar: As I Was Saying	Thu, 8 May 1997
s10e05	Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Paper	Thu, 26 Jun 1997

Season 11

▲▼ (6 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s11e01	The Life and Times of Allen Ginsburg	Thu, 18 Sep 1997
s11e02	Vaudeville	Thu, 27 Nov 1997
s11e03	Billy Wilder: the Human Comedy	Thu, 5 Feb 1998
s11e04	Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart	Thu, 30 Apr 1998
s11e05	Don Hewitt: 90 Minutes on 60 Minutes	Sat, 2 May 1998
s11e06	Alexander Calder	Thu, 18 Jun 1998

Season 12

▲▼ (7 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s12e01	Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Moon	Thu, 29 Oct 1998
s12e02	The Line King: Al Hirschfield	Thu, 7 Jan 1999
s12e03	Paul Robeson: Here I Stand	Thu, 25 Feb 1999
s12e04	Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius	Thu, 8 Apr 1999
s12e05	The Lives of Lillian Hellman	Thu, 1 Jul 1999
s12e06	Dashiell Hammett: Detective, Writer	Thu, 8 Jul 1999
s12e07	Yours for a Song: the Women of Tin Pan Alley	Thu, 19 Aug 1999

Season 13

▲▼ (7 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s13e01	Hitchcock, Selznick, and the End of Hollywood	Tue, 2 Nov 1999
s13e02	Norman Rockwell: Painting in America	Thu, 25 Nov 1999
s13e03	Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For	Thu, 9 Dec 1999
s13e04	Paul Taylor: Dancemaker	Thu, 6 Jan 2000
s13e05	Sidney Poitier: One Bright Light	Thu, 3 Feb 2000
s13e06	Isaac Stern: Life's Virtuoso	Thu, 13 Apr 2000
s13e07	The Source: the Story of the Beats and the Beat Generation	Thu, 1 Jun 2000

Season 14

▲▼ (8 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s14e01	Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows	Thu, 28 Sep 2000
s14e02	Mailer on Mailer	Thu, 5 Oct 2000
s14e03	On Cukor	Thu, 23 Nov 2000
s14e04	Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy	Mon, 4 Dec 2000
s14e05	Bob Marley: Rebel Music	Thu, 15 Feb 2001
s14e06	A Conversation with Gregory Peck	Tue, 10 Apr 2001
s14e07	Alfred Steiglitz: the Eloquent Eye	Tue, 17 Apr 2001
s14e08	Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indians	Tue, 24 Apr 2001

Season 15

▲▼ (8 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s15e01	Goldwyn: the Man and His Movies	Mon, 8 Oct 2001
s15e02	F. Scott Fitzgerald: Winter Dreams	Mon, 15 Oct 2001
s15e03	Richard Rodgers: the Sweetest Sounds	Mon, 22 Oct 2001
s15e04	Quincy Jones: In the Pocket	Mon, 19 Nov 2001
s15e05	Good Rockin' Tonight: the Legacy of Sun Records	Thu, 29 Nov 2001
s15e06	Merce Cunningham: a Lifetime of Dance	Mon, 17 Dec 2001
s15e07	Ralph Ellison: An American Journey	Wed, 20 Feb 2002
s15e08	Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer	Thu, 21 Mar 2002

Season 16

▲▼ (8 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s16e01	Willie Nelson: Still is Still Moving	Thu, 3 Oct 2002
s16e02	Lon Chaney: a Thousand Faces	Thu, 31 Oct 2002
s16e03	Juilliard	Thu, 30 Jan 2003
s16e04	Alice Waters and Her Delicious Revolution	Thu, 20 Mar 2003
s16e05	Joni Mitchell: a Woman of Heart and Mind	Thu, 3 Apr 2003
s16e06	Muddy Waters: Can't Be Satisfied	Thu, 24 Apr 2003
s16e07	Robert Capa: In Love and War	Thu, 29 May 2003
s16e08	The Education of Gore Vidal	Thu, 31 Jul 2003

Season 17

▲▼ (8 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s17e01	Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, and the Blacklist	Thu, 4 Sep 2003
s17e02	James Brown: Soul Survivor	Thu, 30 Oct 2003
s17e03	Cary Grant: a Class Apart	Thu, 8 Jan 2004
s17e04	Balanchine	Thu, 15 Jan 2004
s17e05	Judy Garland: By Myself	Thu, 26 Feb 2004
s17e06	Henry Luce and Time-Life's America: a Vision of Empire	Fri, 30 Apr 2004
s17e07	Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues	Thu, 24 Jun 2004
s17e08	Julia! America's Favorite Chef	Thu, 19 Aug 2004

Season 18

▲▼ (7 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s18e01	James Dean: Sense Memories	Thu, 12 May 2005
s18e02	Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice	Thu, 30 Jun 2005
s18e03	George Stevens: a Filmmaker's Journey	Thu, 7 Jul 2005
s18e04	Bob Newhart: Unbuttoned	Thu, 21 Jul 2005
s18e05	Willa Cather: the Road is All	Thu, 8 Sep 2005
s18e06	Ernest Hemingway: Rivers to the Sea	Thu, 15 Sep 2005
s18e07	Bob Dylan: No Direction Home	Wed, 28 Sep 2005

Season 19

▲▼ (8 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s19e01	John Ford/John Wayne: the Filmmaker and the Legend	Thu, 11 May 2006
s19e02	The World of Nat King Cole	Thu, 18 May 2006
s19e03	Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home	Thu, 13 Jul 2006
s19e04	Marilyn Monroe: Still Life	Thu, 20 Jul 2006
s19e05	Walter Cronkite: Witness to History	Thu, 27 Jul 2006
s19e06	Andy Warhol: a Documentary	Thu, 21 Sep 2006
s19e07	Sketches of Frank Gehry	Thu, 28 Sep 2006
s19e08	Annie Leibovitz: Through a Lens	Thu, 4 Jan 2007

Season 20

▲▼ (9 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s20e01	Novel Reflections on the American Dream	Thu, 5 Apr 2007
s20e02	Atlantic Records: the House That Ahmet Built	Thu, 3 May 2007
s20e03	Les Paul: Chasing the Sound	Thu, 12 Jul 2007
s20e04	David Hockney: the Colors of Music	Thu, 19 Jul 2007
s20e05	John James Audubon: Drawn from Nature	Thu, 26 Jul 2007
s20e06	Tony Bennett: the Music Never Ends	Thu, 13 Sep 2007
s20e07	Orozco: Man of Fire	Thu, 20 Sep 2007
s20e08	Good Ol' Charles Schulz	Tue, 30 Oct 2007
s20e09	Carol Burnett: a Woman of Character	Tue, 6 Nov 2007

Season 21

▲▼ (5 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s21e01	Pete Seeger: the Power of Song	Thu, 28 Feb 2008
s21e02	Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun	Thu, 10 Apr 2008
s21e03	Marvin Gaye: What's Goin' On	Thu, 8 May 2008
s21e04	You Must Remember This	Wed, 24 Sep 2008
s21e05	The Brothers Warner	Fri, 26 Sep 2008

Season 22

▲▼ (7 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s22e01	Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About	Thu, 29 Jan 2009
s22e02	Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts	Thu, 9 Apr 2009
s22e03	Hollywood Chinese	Thu, 28 May 2009
s22e04	Neil Young: Don't Be Denied	Thu, 11 Jun 2009
s22e06	Trumbo	Thu, 3 Sep 2009
s22e07	Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound	Thu, 15 Oct 2009
s22e08	Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women	Tue, 29 Dec 2009

Season 23

▲▼ (8 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s23e01	Sam Cooke: Crossing Over	Tue, 12 Jan 2010
s23e02	I.M. Pei: Building China Modern	Thu, 1 Apr 2010
s23e03	The Doors: When You’re Strange	Thu, 13 May 2010
s23e04	Merle Haggard: Learning to Live With Myself	Thu, 22 Jul 2010
s23e05	Cachao: Uno Mas	Tue, 21 Sep 2010
s23e06	A Letter to Elia	Tue, 5 Oct 2010
s23e07	Lennon NYC	Tue, 23 Nov 2010
s23e08	Glenn Gould: Genius Within	Tue, 28 Dec 2010

Season 24

▲▼ (9 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s24e01	Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides	Thu, 13 Jan 2011
s24e02	Troubadours: James Taylor/Carole King and the Rise of the Singer-Songwriter	Thu, 3 Mar 2011
s24e03	John Muir in the New World	Tue, 19 Apr 2011
s24e04	Maestro James Levine: 40 Years at the Met	Thu, 2 Jun 2011
s24e05	Pearl Jam Twenty	Sat, 22 Oct 2011
s24e06	Bill T. Jones: A Good Man	Sat, 12 Nov 2011
s24e07	Woody Allen (1)	Mon, 21 Nov 2011
s24e08	Woody Allen (2)	Tue, 22 Nov 2011
s24e09	Charles & Ray Eames: The Architect and the Painter	Tue, 20 Dec 2011

Season 25

▲▼ (8 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s25e01	Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune	Tue, 24 Jan 2012
s25e02	Cab Calloway: Sketches	Tue, 28 Feb 2012
s25e03	Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel	Tue, 3 Apr 2012
s25e04	Harper Lee: Hey, Boo!	Tue, 3 Apr 2012
s25e05	Johnny Carson: King of Late Night	Tue, 15 May 2012
s25e06	The Day Carl Sandburg Died	Tue, 25 Sep 2012
s25e07	Inventing David Geffen	Wed, 21 Nov 2012
s25e08	Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance	Sat, 29 Dec 2012

Season 26

▲▼ (6 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s26e01	Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock and Roll	Sat, 23 Feb 2013
s26e02	Philip Roth: Unmasked	Sat, 30 Mar 2013
s26e03	Mel Brooks Makes a Noise	Tue, 21 May 2013
s26e04	Billie Jean King	Wed, 11 Sep 2013
s26e05	Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin'	Wed, 6 Nov 2013
s26e06	Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love	Sat, 28 Dec 2013

Season 27

▲▼ (8 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s27e01	Salinger	Wed, 22 Jan 2014
s27e02	Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth	Sat, 8 Feb 2014
s27e03	A Fierce Green Fire	Wed, 23 Apr 2014
s27e04	Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself	Sat, 17 May 2014
s27e05	Tanaquil La Clercq: Afternoon of a Faun	Sat, 21 Jun 2014
s27e06	Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning	Sat, 30 Aug 2014
s27e07	The Boomer List: American Experience	Wed, 24 Sep 2014
s27e08	Bing Crosby Rediscovered	Wed, 3 Dec 2014

Season 28

▲▼ (7 episodes)

Episode #	Title	Airing date
s28e01	Ricky Jay: Deceptive Practice	Sat, 24 Jan 2015
s28e02	August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand	Sat, 21 Feb 2015
s28e03	God's Fiddler: Jascha Heifetz	Fri, 17 Apr 2015
s28e04	American Ballet Theatre: A History	Sat, 16 May 2015
s28e05	Althea	Sat, 5 Sep 2015
s28e06	Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer's Journey	Sat, 19 Sep 2015
s28e07	The Women's List	Sat, 26 Sep 2015